How I Got 3 Months Ahead on My Blog Content — and How You Can, Too
Do you struggle to post to your blog regularly?
Is it hard to keep your idea bucket so full you never worry about having something to say?
If you’ve been plagued with writer’s block and find yourself wondering why you ever started blogging, have I got good news for you!
First, let’s look at what is standing in your way.
Why You Don’t Have Blog Content Ready to Go
Writer’s block is debilitating. When it hits you, you feel helpless. It’s like being in a creative prison — and you’ve lost the only set of keys.
Chances are you didn’t get stuck on purpose. It just happens. I know. I’ve been blogging for 12 years. I know how it feels to have my well run dry.
In my case, I wrote on the spur of the moment much of the time. It was only when I had a larger goal that I had no trouble putting paws to the keyboard day after day after day.
Scheduling blog content is like making sure your car is full of gas. Tweet This
If you’re ready to go on vacation, will you leave without filling the tank first? If you don’t, you run the risk that you’ll hit a stretch of road with no gas stations for 50 miles. If you run out in the middle of nowhere, you might not be found for days.
Scheduling blog content is like putting away money for a rainy day. Even squirrels get ready for winter by storing nuts. You know bad weather will come sometime. So don’t get caught with your pants down.
Now let’s look at 3 ways you can always have engaging content that will keep readers begging for more.
Brainstorm a Month’s Worth of Content in 10 Minutes
We writers are creative, right?
You may use freewriting to develop your stories. You might use it to draft a blog post. So why not use it to create a list of topics to write about?
It’s hard to come up with one idea. Why? Because you want it to be awesome, mind-blowing, and viral.
Most ideas aren’t that great.
What you want is an idea that is good enough to develop. The way you get those is to brainstorm a list. Here’s how to do it in as little as 10 minutes:
- Set a timer.
- Write down as many ideas as you can before the time runs out.
- Don’t censor anything, no matter how crazy it seems.
When the time runs out, you’ll have something to work with. If you come up with 100 ideas, and have 30 you can work with, that’s enough content prompts for 7 months of blogging (if you post weekly).
Once you have this, here’s another way to get ahead.
Brainstorm a list of ideas to keep your blog content pipeline full. Tweet This
Schedule Your Posts to Publish Automatically
When you’ve got a month’s worth of ideas, you can start writing.
Write a little every day and you can finish several posts a week.
You don’t have to publish right away, though. WordPress allows you to schedule each post. Take advantage of this. Pick a date and time to publish every week — like Monday at 6 AM.
Want to take this to the next level?
Schedule an email to your list to let them know you’ve published something new. Ask them to read it, comment on it, and share it with their friends. This will create momentum as your readers can expect something new every week at the exact same time.
Now here’s something to keep your content from becoming boring.
Don’t Box Yourself Into One Type of Post
There are lots of ways to write a blog post.
Here are a few of the most common:
- The “How To” Post
- The List Post
- The Personal Experience Post
All these are great. Consistency can make your readers comfortable. But it can also bore people into thinking they’ve heard everything you have to say already.
So mix it up.
Here are some things I’ve done on my own blog to add variety.
- Book reviews (Mike Loomis’s Your Brand is Calling)
- Expert interviews (too many to list here)
- Guest posts (3 so far)
- Compilation posts (I’m working on one right now)
Use your imagination. A personal experience can become an illustration. An observation can become a life lesson. An experiment can provide a breakthrough.
The possibilities are endless.
The point here is don’t be afraid to break the rules. If it’s worth sharing, go for it. Who knows? That one post might change everything for you and your audience!
You’ll engage readers when you think outside the box you’ve created. Tweet This
Do This Now
If you’ve run dry of blog post ideas, take 10 minutes today and brainstorm a list.
Start developing one of them the next time you write.
Do this every week and you’ll have more blog content reserves than you’ll know what to do with!
Happy Writing! May your blog content well never run dry again.
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